Q We're here by the lovely Georgia seashore with the First
Lady. Thanks for joining us, Mrs. Bush.

MRS. BUSH: Thanks, Terry.

Q This week, the nation is mourning the passing of Ronald Reagan
and celebrating his long and productive life. What are your thoughts
at this moment?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I'm thinking about Nancy Reagan. My father died
of Alzheimer's and I know how difficult the long goodbye was for her,
and how devoted she is to him and was to him, and I have a lot of
respect and admiration for her.

But, of course, I'm also thinking about him and the way he was when
we knew him, when we got to come to Washington when George's dad was
Vice President, and how funny he was and how he instantly made people
feel at home. There's something very intimidating about meeting the
President of the United States, you don't know what you're going to say
and you're hoping they'll say something so you can have some sort of
response. And he always was very warm and funny and fun to be with.

Q And you and the President were in Paris when the news came.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q How did you learn, and what went through your mind?

MRS. BUSH: Well, we had actually already gone to bed on Sunday
night. The lights weren't off; we weren't asleep. But Andy Card came
in and told the President. And so he tried to call Mrs. Reagan then
and couldn't get her right then, but called later that night.

So it was sad. We were very -- we wanted to send her our love and
our very best wishes. And we will call on her tomorrow night when we
get back to Washington.

Q A state funeral is coming up, a major national event.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q What are your plans this coming week?

MRS. BUSH: Well, we'll be there, of course, at the funeral. We
hope to host the foreign heads of state who are coming in for coffee at
the White House before we go to the National Cathedral for the
funeral.

President Bush, George's dad, and Barbara Bush, will be with us at
the White House, and I know a few of these leaders who are here for the
G8 will go on to Washington as well for the funeral.

Q You mentioned Alzheimer's. Nancy Reagan has been a strong
advocate for expanding research in stem cells because a lot of people
think it holds promise for the treatment and maybe even cure of
Alzheimer's. President Bush has strictly limited that research.

Well, the research has actually opened up for stem cell with his
decision. There are stem cell embryos ready that people can use for
research. But it's a very delicate line. We have to -- it's something
that has to be treated very carefully, because we're balancing
scientific interests with ethical issues. And there are stem cells
that are available for research, and I think that's good. There's also
adult stem cell. There are other sorts of stem cell that people can
use without those ethical issues of using embryos.

Q Finally on President Reagan, you are a veteran campaigner for
the Presidency. He won two landslide elections and many people think
he had a special connection with a lot of American voters. What was
that? What was his secret?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think just exactly what I said earlier, about
the way his personality was, how he was so warm and self-deprecating,
but still really had a very strong character. You saw a huge strength
of character in him. And I think that really appealed to the United
States, to the people of the United States. It certainly appealed to
us, and we had the privilege of campaigning for him, of course, because
we were also campaigning for George's dad as Vice President. So we got
to travel the United States in those two elections and it was a huge
privilege.

* * * * *

Q You and the President are hosting this summit of world
leaders. It's been a tough couple of years in international relations
and relations with some of the leaders who are here. What can a summit
like this really do? Some people think it's kind of an expensive photo
op. is it --

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think it is definitely substantive and it's a
chance for us to be together with other leaders and to have the
opportunity to have a personal relationship with them, which we do.
And last night, for instance, we hosted all the G8, the leaders and
their spouses right here. The tables were set up right here. The
singers that were our entertainment sang from where we are. This made
a perfect stage for them.

Today, the spouses of the leaders and I will be meeting. We asked
a woman from the Iraqi Governing Council and a woman from the Afghan
Governing Council. We have an Iraqi Fulbright scholar, a young woman
who is studying here in the United States. I don't know if people know
that the Fulbright scholarships were opened up right after the fall of
Saddam Hussein to Iraqi students again, and there are 25 Iraqi
Fulbright scholars in the United States.

Coming to talk to us, we have a woman whose husband is the
president of Roger Williams College, who worked to establish full
scholarships for young Afghan women here in the United States, so they
can be educated and go back and then help with the reconstruction of
their country.

So we'll be talking about ways that we -- as the wives of the
leaders of the most developed countries in the world with the largest
economies in the world, which is what the G8 is, ways we can assist our
sisters in the broader Middle East in education issues for themselves
and for their children and then health care issues for themselves and
their children.

Q And that's a big cultural and political goal. What do you say
to the people in those societies and towns and villages who have a
traditional way of the women in their society who look at what you
might be suggesting and say, that's kind of cultural imperialism?

MRS. BUSH: Well, no it's not. That's not at all what we are
suggesting. And one of the reasons these women are coming to talk to
us is because we want to work within the traditions of their society
and the culture of their society, and we respect their religion and
their culture.

But we also know that infant and maternal mortality, for instance,
in Afghanistan, the rates of it are some of the highest in the world.
And that it's imperative for the people in Afghanistan and Iraq and for
all of us to make sure health care issues for women and children are
the best they can possibly be.

And all of us watched two years ago when little girls in
Afghanistan went to school for the first time in their lives, and we
want educated girls and educated women worldwide. Because we know that
girls and women -- or women make most of the decisions for their
families, their health care decisions and their education decisions.
And educated women can make really good decisions for their children.

Q How about the question of women's rights? The notion, for
example, of women driving in Saudi Arabia?

MRS. BUSH: Well both Iraq and Afghanistan in their constitutions
that they're writing have guaranteed the rights of women and women are
involved in their governments. Both of the women from the governing
councils of those two countries who are coming are involved in the
reconstruction of their countries. And that's really important.

You know, a society who denies half of their population from being
involved in their society in any way is a society that will have a lot
of trouble developing. And I see, you know -- what we are working for
is to have equality within the traditions of each one of these
countries.